A Quick Chat with N’fa Forster-Jones – GRID Series Program Manager

You’ve worn a lot of hats in your career — artist, producer, lecturer, and mentor. What drew you to working with GRID Series?
I love that GRID Series is learning, development, and creativity in action. When Arik (Ariel Blum, Founder) was talking to me about Grid and how it offers access to industry to creatives that often go unnoticed or unsupported it really connected with me. I had already heard a bit about GRID, but seeing the full vision where artists, their hype people, mentors, producers, filmmakers, and very impassioned stakeholders all come together to support the art and the local community, it felt like everything I aligned with and wanted to support.

What excites you most about being involved in the South East Melbourne Artist Development Program in 2025?
Every GRID Series program uncovers amazing new talent, or elevates journeying artists who have been putting in the work but just need that next step of support, access and direction. South East Melbourne has always had mad energy and talent as being a melting pot for diverse creatives who think outside the box and have powerful stories to tell. I’m excited about seeing and hearing who comes through this program and what adventures may lay ahead.

You've played a big role in shaping Australian Hip Hop. How have you seen the local music scene evolve over the years — especially for artists from diverse backgrounds?
Well, even before forming 1200 Techniques, and even during that era, it would be hard to find other people who resonated with music and culture the way me and my brother Kaba did. We were scarce and scattered, and so we had to search to connect and build relationships. Access to industry was a real problem. While this still does exist today on many levels, the diversity of thought, feeling, culture is much more dense and rich now and I think the ability for people to connect and build and find support is more available and immediate. I mean, programs like GRID Series now exist. I hope the artists coming up today don’t feel so alone, but instead can look around and see themselves in others and therefore feel like their voice and their story is going to be heard, and that it matters - because it does.

GRID Series is all about uplifting unheard voices. How do you personally approach mentoring artists who are just starting out?
For me, mentoring artists is about helping them see the magic that we see in them, and to help them further cultivate that magic and believe in its substance. It’s easy to think that our regular lives, the streets we walk, the local shops we frequent, the food we eat, and both the joy and suffering we experience don’t matter, but they do. It’s those real stories, and a new (unheard) voice telling these stories that audiences around the world actually connect with the most, and really do need to hear.

Can you give us a taste of what artists in the South East Melbourne program can expect — any themes, workshops, or experiences you’re particularly looking forward to?
The artists who make it into the program get connected with super high-end industry mentors who can help them lift their knowledge, dope producers who will elevate the artist production in creative direction. They get linked with an amazing film crew who create a cinematic short documentary around the artists, and some super cool live show experiences. One of the coolest parts of the program though to me is that the artists and their hype people generally connect with the other artist who made it through the program and they tend to build long-term friendships and community.

You’ve collaborated across genres and continents. How does that global perspective shape the way you support artists here in Australia?
You know, when I was younger, saving up my money to just take off and travel, following up on connections made here with international artists through music, showed me that all around the world there are people like me loving music because it gave them sanity. People abroad want to hear our local stories, because these are stories that they don’t know and therefore find interesting and unique. People are people, and often the only thing stopping us from building these bridges and relationships is ourselves, telling ourselves that we’re not valuable enough to do so. The reality is that we are all valuable.

What’s one piece of advice you always try to pass on to artists trying to break through today?
I tell artists the same things I tell my kids, and that’s that your dreams and success in any form are not coming to you. You have to take the steps to go to them. Picture the path and walk it. This means putting in the work to develop whatever it is that matters to you when you could easily just lay on the couch or just put it off for another day. The way I see it is that even if you don’t get to that ultimate destination, you will still get somewhere magnificent and forge amazing experiences and long-term friends so long as you stay healthy in your mind, body and spirit and refuse to lose the spark.

From 1200 Techniques to Cool Out Sun and Burn Gently, you’ve always pushed creative boundaries. Do you see that same kind of energy in the new talent coming through GRID?
Yeah I do see the same energy and even more so in some cases. Whether making music, films, or history, the reality is that we may not all be appreciated for the effort we put in at that time, but what matters is that we create things that matter to us successful or not, as passion is a personal process. Something GRID tries to show artists is that you have to be proactive and open to suggestions and direction from others at times to help you see your path. To see the trees from the forest. That said, the program is artist scented and we are here really just to uplift the ideas and vision of the artists we work with.

For artists keen to get involved with GRID Series, what’s the best way to do that? Any tips or things they should know before applying?
The best way is to follow the Grid Series Instagram account, check out the GRID Series website, and ultimately apply through the EOI portal. The EOI is cool because the questions in there really make you think about what you do, why you do it, who you are, where you come from, where you’re headed. These questions are important, as they help inform an artist themselves what the art means to them, and it helps for us to learn what the artists are about. It’s best when artists do complete the EOI, that they just be straightforward and honest and real with it.

What do you hope artists take away from their time in the GRID Series — beyond just the music side of things?
We want them to take away a sense of personal growth, personal success, new friendships, new community, and industry connections that they can grow with and leverage to support their own careers, and potentially the careers of their friends who would benefit from this shared knowledge and understanding. It’s full circle in its positive momentum.

Finally, what’s on the horizon for you in 2025 — musically, personally, or through GRID? Anything we should be keeping an eye out for?
Well, I am always busy writing new music and playing shows with Cool Out Sun, and being a family man. I am busy with the final elements of the Geelong program which will be completed very soon, while helping out in developing the Outer Perth program, and of course the Southeast Melbourne program. Arik really is the brains, but hopefully my brawn is helping with the heavy lifting (lol). This keeps me pretty busy along with university lecturing, running lyric writing workshops at the Art Centre Melbourne, helping develop the Clock Your Skills program in Australia, sitting on ARIA’s RnB and Hip Hop advisory panel and sitting on the board for Black Music Alliance Australia. I’m just trying to do good things, and be involved in good actions with good people to push things forward and pay things forward as I believe in good Karma.

GRID Series Launches South East Melbourne Artist Development Program 2025
Offering Musicians a Pathway to Industry Success

Applications open 16 April – 9 June 2025 - Apply here